Sonic 3 & Knuckles bonus stage FAQ by ulillillia
Questions? Comments? E-mail me at [email protected]
FAQ version 1.0
Last updated on Jan 15, 2004 at 10:40 AM Central Time
This FAQ contains a lot of details about the three bonus stages used with Sonic 3 &
Knuckles. Features in this FAQ include detailed descriptions of each bonus stage
explaining their nature and the items. Others include weird glitches that you can
use to your advantage with a very detailed desciption on how to use that glitch.
Strange phenomenon only available with debug mode enabled is also included in it's
own special section. Also included is how many rings are needed to access each
bonus stage. Below is the table of contents:
1. The gumball machine stage [from Sonic 3]
A. Basics
B. The items
2. The slot machine stage [from Sonic and Knuckles]
A. Basics
B. The blocks
C. Slot values
3. The glowing spheres stage [from Sonic and Knuckles]
A. Basics
B. The items
C. Strange glitch
4. The pros and cons between the stages
A. Most rings
B. Difficulty
C. Most one ups
D. Continues
5. Debug mode special features and glitches
A. How to enable
B. Gumball machine stage
C. Slot machine stage
D. Glowing Spheres stage
6. Other notes
A. Determining which bonus stage you'll get
B. FAQ Update log
C. Copyright information
-----------------------------------------
| Section 1: The gumball machine stage |
-----------------------------------------
A. Basics
The gumball machine is found only on Sonic 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and not in
Sonic and Knuckles. In this interesting, highly creative stage, you have a series
of 4 catapults [also referred to as "springs" from the modern Sonic games, but in
this FAQ, they are called "catapults"]. On the sides of the walls, you see some
small yellowish objects. These spring you to higher levels to turn the handle to
release a gumball. Each time the handle is turned, a gumball falls out and drops at
a steady rate of 2 pixels per frame [this is, if you were to watch this gumball
slide across the screen from a given start point, it would take just shy of 1.9
seconds to cross the entire screen if the screen was still]. To collect the gumball
[one cannot be grabbed], just drop down onto it or touch it in anyway. The stage
ends in only one way: drop below the bottom of the stage without the catapults
being there. If you have Tails with Sonic, I highly recommend that you get rid of
Tails as soon as possible, as he'll waste some of the springs and yellow things
without your control or permission, and could spill out a solid gumball that'll make
you exit the stage more quickly. Without Tails, you'll be in better control and
could typically stay in the stage nearly twice as long as you would with Tails.
B. The items
The gumball machine spills out a variety of items ranging from nothing to giving
rings and even 1ups. Here's the complete list:
Clear - worth nothing, avoid chasing after this one.
Ring - worth ten extra rings, worth going after if you have all Chaos or Super
Emeralds.
1up - does what it says, gives one free extra life.
Red B - gives a fire shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one.
Yellow B - gives a magnetic shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one.
Blue B - gives a bubble shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one.
Solid - these cannot be grabbed, attempts to grab it will throw you off in another
direction, opposite of the point in which you touched it [that is, if you touch the
top going down, you'll get thrown up]. Use these wisely to bounce off of them to
spin the handle again in hopes for rings, a 1up or something else you want more.
Rep - replaces the catapults below giving you an extra chance.
--------------------------------------
| Section 2: The slot machine stage |
--------------------------------------
A. Basics
The slot machine stage is a cross between Sonic 1's special stage and Sonic 2's
casino night zone. That is, it's a rotating field with a slot machine in the
center. When you first start the stage, don't mess with the controls as you'll
automatically get a free chance at the machine. Once your character enters the slot
machine, the machine starts spinning and selecting all on it's own [the manual lies,
pressing A, B, or C [or B, A, and X respectively on the Gamecube controller] doesn't
do anything but allow you to jump and nothing with the machine.]. Once the machine
finishes, you may get something, and if you don't get anything or after it gives
whatever, you'll automatically drop from the machine. To replay the machine, simply
get into the slot again and it'll go again. If you want to avoid the machine as
much as possible, get into the small packets where the rings are and collect the 24
that are available. These rings are the only way to get a continue.
To exit this stage, there are two ways. First, find one of the goal areas and jump
onto one of those blocks to exit. Second, stand on one of the blocks that flashes
colors for a long enough time and it'll eventually change into a goal making you
leave the stage.
To stay in this stage the longest to activate the machine the greatest number of
times, when your character gets launched from the machine after using it, jump
immediately when he hits the color-changing blocks below.
B. The blocks
This stage has a few blocks to either help or harm your progress. Here's the list
of each:
Glass octagon - activates the slot machine - the key to this stage
Blue, yellow, and red blocks - for landing on, but stay on them too long and they'll
turn into a goal block! Blue means that 3 touches or 3 seconds remain to the goal
formation, yellow for 2 and red for 1.
Goal block - these blocks are used to exit this stage. Without them, the stage
would never end.
Spinning wheel - resembles the colored blocks, but you don't have the fear of them
changing into a goal block. Use these as a stepping stone to reach the machine at
the center or to collect the 24 rings around the central area in hopes for the
continue.
Star block - these bump you in the opposite direction of the impact point. Be
careful around these or you may end up out of control.
R block - reverses the current rotation [from clockwise to counterclockwise and back
again]
C. Slot values
The slot machine has a good combo of goodies, but one not worth entering this stage
for. Here's a list on what each is worth when you get them in the machine:
3 Ring - 10 rings
3 Sonic - 30 rings
3 Tails - 20 rings
3 Knuckles - 25 rings
3 Bar - 8 rings
3 Jackpot - 100 rings
3 robotnik - lose 100 rings - the fear of this stage
1 jackpot and 2 ring - 20 rings
1 jackpot and 2 sonic - 60 rings
1 jackpot and 2 tails - 40 rings
1 jackpot and 2 knuckles - 50 rings
1 jackpot and 2 bar - 16 rings [? never got this, predicted given the patterns shown]
1 jackpot and 2 robotniks - lose 100 rings [be lucky it isn't 200 knowing this
pattern]
2 jackpot and 1 ring - 40 rings
2 jackpot and 1 sonic - 120 rings [even more powerful than the jackpot!? Weird!]
2 jackpot and 1 tails - 80 rings
2 jackpot and 1 knuckles - 100 rings [as good as the jackpot]
2 jackpot and 1 bar - 32 rings [? never got this, predicted given the patterns shown]
2 jackpot and 1 robotnik - lose 100 rings [lucky enough that it isn't 400!]
1 bar and junk* - 2 rings
2 bar and junk - 4 ring
All junk - nothing
* "junk" refers to having nothing like, for example, ring, robotnik, tails, which
gives nothing. "Junk" may include things that weaken an effect, particularly with
the "bar" item.
-----------------------------------------
| Section 3: The glowing spheres stage |
-----------------------------------------
A. Basics
This stage is my favorite [because I always seem to get the super form or hyper form
quite easily, Super form by Hydrocity 2, Hyper form usually before Lava Reef], thus
I know a lot about it. The glowing spheres stage is the most related to the normal
levels. You have the same acceleration and controls [minus jumping], Tails can die
and revive exactly like that of the normal levels, the only real difference between
normal levels and this bonus stage is it's concept. Upon entering this stage, you
start on the very bottom and drop down onto the rapidly flashing, colorful spheres.
On these spheres, the controls are simple. Use the directional pad to control the
direction of aim, and the jump button to launch off from these. To have maximum
speed, jump when the character is in the very center of the sphere. Above these
start spheres, you'll see a variety of objects: flippers [when you land on one,
just like pinball, use the jump button to lauch up higher], stars [these bump you
off them opposite the direction of impact], and tiny glowing spheres. In this
stage, your goal is to touch the small glowing spheres to receive a random gumball
increasing in effectiveness as you climb up. Creeping up from below is the exit
portal, fall in and you exit the stage. The other way to exit the stage is by
getting up to the very top of the stage and attempting to go past it. If you have
Tails with Sonic, Tails, here, isn't much of a worry, just dumb enough to fall into
the exit portal below or, if you're far enough above it, die [this is explained
later on how this happens]. Though, if you move fast enough, Tails would be a
minimal worry. Though, if you're not careful enough, Tails may end up getting you
something you don't want, and Tails, whether hitting the exit portal or dying, will
automatically revive [just like the main levels] after roughly 8 seconds of being
off-screen.
B. The items
This stage has an odd feature that makes it very tempting: as you go up, the value
of the items increases exponentially. The rings are the primary example. Here's a
list of what you'll expect:
Ring - worth from 5 rings when low to 10, 20, 30, 35, 40, 50 and eventually 80 on
the very top increasing as you go up [the top four alone can give 250 easy rings in
less than 20 seconds even!]. If you have all the Chaos Emeralds or all Super
Emeralds, these 250 rings would allow more than 4 extra MINUTES of the super or
hyper form, even without collecting extra rings in the main stages.
Clear - worth nothing, just ignore these and continue on normally. - These no longer
appear past 50% of the way to the top, past the point in which rings give 35 at once.
1up - does what it says, gives one free extra life - these are only available when
you're about 50% of the way to the top, just past the point in which rings give 35
at once.
Red B - gives a fire shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one.
Yellow B - gives a magnetic shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one. - These are most common around the 20 to 35 ring range,
otherwise rare.
Blue B - gives a bubble shield. If you already have a shield, getting this will
replace the old one.
Solid - of minimal use, useful for bouncing off of to get elsewhere more quickly.
These do not appear when past the 60% mark, where rings give around 40 at once.
C. Strange glitch
Good as this stage is, it IS very possible to stay in this stage for even 20
minutes, possibly even 40 minutes! Though enforcing the glitch is hard to pull off,
you need to have very good maneuvering skills, and good timing to allow for you to
have a lot of speed. Here's how to pull off the glitch [note, Tails, if you have
him with Sonic, will not hamper the chances of success if you ignore him]:
1. Know the background music for this stage well. It can be a very powerful timing
tool. When the main theme of the song changes to some other part, that's your cue.
1ups, if you got any, will weaken this effect, so it may take quite a bit of time to
adjust to.
2. Once you know the background music well enough, enter this stage then start
climbing up to the very top grabbing as much stuff as you can as quickly as
possible. Do not exit by going past the top.
3. Land on the top most large sphere and adjust your character so that, when he
goes down, goes very slightly to the left on this sphere.
4. Wait for the cue in the background music, then launch off this sphere at the
quickest possible going straight down, not up.
5. The tricky part now is control. You need to evade all glowing spheres below you
and all bumpers. Upon the launch, start by moving your character to the left for
about a half a second to a full second.
6. After this, quickly shift to going to the right to evade colliding with the
spheres. Once past these, the character will start falling off the screen [from
going too fast], but the moment you pass these, go to the left as much as you can.
If you're lucky, you'll pass right through the exit portal not exitting the stage.
7. Then, wait for a while, usually go back down some and try to activate the small
glowing spheres to gain extra items. After roughly two minutes, you're free to roam
the area and practice this maneuver evading the glowing spheres and the stars. This
trick is very hard to get it to work, and the more speed you have, the greater your
chances. I myself, having done this about 200 times [attempts], about 10 to 15 of
which have worked, just to give you an idea on how challenging it is. This 200
count refers to successful evading only. Without successful evading, it's around
300 counts [for beginners, it's likely to be around 600 for the same 10 to 15
successes].
8. You can play around in the stage all you want for about 19 minutes or so. Past
that, you can either repeat this process to gain another 19 minutes, with the same
low chances, or just exit all together. You don't have to worry about dying from
wasting too much time, there is no time limit. If you don't want to wait 19
minutes, use the alternative exit: go past the top of the stage.
WARNING: if you drop down too low, you'll not only just lose a life [unless you
have debug enabled and use it to cancel the loss of life], you lose all rings you
had [unless, of course, you have debug enabled and cancelled this loss], no matter
how many the screen says when you reenter the main game's current stage.
----------------------------------------------------
| Section 4: The pros and cons between the stages |
----------------------------------------------------
A. Most rings
This one is more of a tie between the slot machine stage and the glowing spheres
stage. The slot machine stage, provided you get a lot of jackpots [especially the 2
jackpot 1 sonic combo], is worth a lot more than the glowing spheres stage, however,
the fear of losing 100 rings instantly from getting 3 robotniks makes the slot
machine stage the most variant. At times, I've had a grand loss of over 300 rings
and a grand gain of over 250 rings, however, if it's rings you're after with minimal
worry of losing them, the glowing spheres stage is the best. To get the most rings
for the glowing spheres stage, the top two are key. For the one on the left, keep
activating it until you get rings, pause the game if you need to to see what you
got. If it's a 1up you got when it was activated, avoid it, drop down onto the
glowing sphere just below and try again. 80 easy rings isn't worth giving up for a
dumb 1up, especially if you've maxed your lives at 99, or rarely use them. The one
on the far right worth 80 is far harder to avoid, sometimes can be hard to even
get. The best way to ensure accuracy on this one is to take it slow. Launch up
carefully from the glowing spheres below and use the stars to bounce around.
Usually, for this one, provided I got the rings quickly for the left one, I ignore
1ups and give it another go. Below these 2 powerful ones, you'll find another one
worth 50 rings. Usually, this one I don't care much for what I get, except the fire
shield as that I ignore. Upon the usual climb up, you could pick up a good 100 to
150 rings prior to these huge ones above anyway.
B. Difficulty
The easiest stage is the gumball machine one, only need to travel from left to
right, nothing special. Though, for taking it easy, you don't get much credit.
Just some shield swapping and at most 40 rings and a lucky 1up if any is all. The
glowing spheres stage is, by far, the hardest to deal with, but the most rewarding.
The slot machine one is in the middle and it's of more of a disadvantage overall
than most anything else.
C. Most 1ups
The glowing spheres stage has a maximum of 6 to 8 1ups, not including those from
getting rings. The slot machine stage is strictly based on ring 1ups, useless if
you have more than 200 rings [even if you lose some to go below, you won't get 1ups
from gaining back 200 again]. The gumball machine has about 1 that's typical,
though, I've seen it give two before. The 1up in the gumball machine stage usually
appears when you've been in the stage for at least 30 seconds, possibly 20 on the
low end.
D. Continues
Yet another lie in the manual. The manual states that you can get continues in the
bonus and special stages, however, that's ONE of the 3 bonus stages. The manual
indirectly relates to all bonus stages, not just one. The one stage is the slot
machine one, but to get it, you need to collect the little rings halfway to the slot
machine in the corners when you have 50 of them. I never use continues [in fact, I
don't even know what the continue screen looks like either for any of the Sonic
games except Mean Bean Machine] as I always seem to have 40 lives by the start of
Carnival Night Zone [provided I use the bonus stages, otherwise, it's usually around
20 lives by Carnival Night Zone]. The Sonic games are too easy, so easy that I
kinda forced myself into developing some much more difficult challenges: usually
hunting for bugs.
Below is a table to compare each feature to help you decide which bonus stage is the
best:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| feature | Gumball Machine | Slot Machine | Glowing Spheres |
-------------+-----------------+-------------------+------------------
| Most rings | at most 40 | -300 to +300 | 300 or more |
-------------+-----------------+-------------------+------------------
| Difficulty | 1.8 - Easy** | 2.6 - Easy-medium | 5.6 - Hard |
-------------+-----------------+-------------------+------------------
| Most 1ups* | at most 2 | 0 | 6 to 8 |
-------------+-----------------+-------------------+------------------
| Continues | no | 1 max | no |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table footnotes:
* Does not include 1ups from rings
** This is a precise numerical scale with it's corresponding word value. 0=given -
no work neccessary to complete, 1=Very easy, 2=Easy, 3=Easy-medium, 4=Medium,
5=Medium-hard, 6=Hard, 7=Very Hard, 8=Impossible - cannot be done.
--------------------------------------------------------
| Section 5: Debug mode special features and glitches |
--------------------------------------------------------
Debug mode is my favorite feature in the classic Sonic games and it's what gave me
the interest to develop my own game! Debug mode is just that, it allows you to add
objects to the level however and whereever you'd like, almost as if you were
building the level yourself.
A. How to enable
Debug mode is quick and quite easy to enable. First, enter 1 player mode and select
Zone 1, Angelisland Zone. Find the swinging vines on the low course after two sets
of spikes and grab on. While hanging on, press left three times, right three times,
then up three times. You should hear the same sound as if you collected a ring.
Pause it and press B. On the main menu, go below the "competition" to find "Sound
test". Enter this to find the level select screen. Then, select mushroom hill Zone
act 1, and find a pulley within this act. If you use Sonic, it'd be easier [press X
to change the number on the level select screen to 00 or 01 [02 [Tails] would work
also]] and likely quicker unless you know how to glide-hop with Knuckles. If you
follow the low path with Sonic, you'll find one after the speed shoes icon and the
mad mole. Grab onto it and press left three times, right three times, then up three
times as before. Again, you should hear the same sound as if you collected a ring.
Pause it and press B to exit. Enter the sound test option and choose one of the *2*
bonus stages. To choose with debug enabled, press and hold B then hit start holding
these two until you see your character. Press A to enter debug, B to change
objects, and X to place that object in your current location. In the bonus stages,
you cannot see the coordinates because you cannot see the score.
B. Gumball Machine stage [You can only access this stage via a starpost, see the
ring requirements to maximize your chances of getting this stage to all the time].
Debug in the gumball machine stage is fun if you have Sonic and Tails together. If
you use debug just right, you can make Tails jump around needlessly by spikes
causing him to spin the handle releasing a gumball every time. Though it is very
hard to set up and fails often, here's the process to maximize your chances,
sometimes, you need to be fast like Sonic.
1. Upon entering, only accessible via using the star posts, don't do anything until
Sonic drops down with Tails on the catapults below. Upon impact, quickly enter
debug, change to the catapult that points down, and place it where Tails started,
get above it and exit debug BEFORE Tails lands, otherwise Tails would disappear for
good until you reenter the stage. This is the second hardest part. Tip: Before
entering this stage, enter debug, and scroll through the list of items until you
come across the ring and advance to the up-facing catapult.
2. Once Tails is firmly on the catapult, wait about 1 second doing nothing, then
enter debug standing still with Tails still on the catapult.
3. Place a row of catapults leaving a small gap on either side, preferrably the
right side as you can control the width better, too wide, and you may fall through,
too narrow, and you may not be able to do what is needed in step 4.
4. Switch to the catapult pointing straight up and place one a little lower than
the rest of the catapults. This catapult would be used for shooting Sonic and Tails
up to removing the yellow things.
5. Return to the down catapult object and place an extra row of these below. To
optimize it, position the catapult so that it matches the exact height of the upper
ones, and tap down on the control pad ten times. Place these catapults here. Doing
so, in case if you end up directly under the solid gumballs, you won't unexpectedly
fall though, [add a third layer if needed].
6. With the same down catapult, move it to the far left side where the wall of
yellow things are. Place one on the bottom of the 3rd yellow thing from the bottom
then another on the top. This prevents it from being activated to keep the slot
machine high giving you plenty of maneuvering room. If you provide some space above
the top of the yellow thing and some below, that's better and preferred. The small
gap between the catapults is no worry, you cannot fit through them by a long ways.
7. Return to a position a little above the catapults and exit debug. Then, the
hardest part comes.
8. With Tails' unexpected help, you need to remove all of the yellow things all
without losing Tails [Tails may be off screen, but more than 5 seconds off screen
calls for the risk of losing him for good, thus having to restart this process.
9. After completing the hardest part, especially the top yellow things, the slot
machine will come all the way down to the point in which the inaccessible yellow
thing was blocked off in step 6 above. Without that yellow thing, the machine would
fall a lot more making it impossible to maneuver around well, which is why step 6
was essential.
10. For more fun, especially with all those shields popping out. Stop all movement
and wait for Tails to come close to Sonic. Enter debug, change to the spikes, and
place them at a position so that the tops of the spikes are just above the tops of
the catapults, preferrably so that the tops of the catapults are centered with the
spikes and so that the spikes are partially into the wall leaving the left half
exposed.
11. Using those spikes in step ten, place a row of them so that the tops of the
spikes are a little below the bottom of the handle of the gumball machine [about
half the height of the spikes is preferred]. Placing these spikes can be difficult,
but, if you look carefully enough, and know how you're placing them, taking the
shadow left behind as a hint, this shouldn't be that much of a problem.
12. Finally, the game's about to begin! Go back down where the lower, now enclosed
area is and exit debug. Wait for Tails to come by and jump. Upon jumping, enter
debug really quick when Tails jumps, wait for Tails to reach the highest point of
his jump, exit debug, press B to flip upsidedown, enter debug, wait for Tails to get
above those spikes, exit debug and quickly press B again to flip back to normal with
Tails now jumping around on the spikes spinning the handle repeatedly.
The fun part now is collecting all those goodies. Collect all shields you can and
get rid of them as quickly as you can via the spikes on the lower area preset in
step 10 above. Collect as many goodies from this as you can. With a little
creativity skills, you can develop your own games from this! If you ever do get
bored of this, you can always enter debug at any time, and drop down to exit this
stage. If you ever do get bored, you could try this idea to really show Sonic can
go hypersonic:
At any time, whether you just entered this stage or otherwise with any character,
immediately press B to flip upsidedown and watch the character accelerate upwards
like crazy. Eventually, like the Metropolis Endless Fall glitch I submitted, you'll
reach the fastest possible speed, the 128 pixels per frame speed, then suddenly,
you'll go in the opposite direction you were going in!
C. Slot Machine Stage [Bonus stage number 2 on the level select screen]
Debug mode in the slot machine stage is much different. After a little roataion
with the area, the controls in debug are confusing. Press down, you go at a 45°
angle to the up and left? Weird. However, there is something truly interesting
that makes using debug in this stage worth checking out. Here's two I know of so
far:
Upon entering the stage, quickly enter debug mode. In debug mode, the stage will
not rotate until you exit. With good controls [up is up, left is left, etc.], move
up to the very top just outside the area and position Sonic so that he's on those
color-changing blocks., especially in a combo exactly like this diagram shows:
-- ------
| || |
-- | |
----------+-----
| | |
| | |
-----------
In this diagram, the small block represents your character, and the 3 squares
represents the block combo to look for. Exit debug to land on them from a little
above them [the object you use makes no difference]. Your character will drop onto
these blocks. Listen to the sounds made. After you hear the third one after the
board rotates like 60° or so, jump before the goals appear and head to the right
avoiding those goals. Then, wait about 4 to 5 seconds and eventually, you'll see
the character go past the top of the screen. Once he does so, you'll see a world of
completely randomized objects! Here, the blocks, despite the strange sounds they
make, never change and collected rings never disappear. If you land in a good spot,
there's an area in which a ring in on one of those color-changing blocks, but if you
try to collect it, strangely enough, you'll see that your ring count counts
extremely fast, 1 time each frame that goes by [1 second would deal you 60 rings!].
Be careful of those star blocks, they don't follow the rules as they should,
instead, they only send you in one direction, even if it's right through the
object! If you ever get stuck, or want to exit this area, just enter debug to watch
everything suddenly disappear.
The second area is similar to the first, but everything is in full working order
[that is, the stars send you in the direction opposite of impact and rings disappear
once you get them], however there's something strange about this world! To see this
wacky world, as you first enter the stage with the correct controls [up is up, left
is left, etc.], enter debug immediately. Hold down while in debug [the object makes
no difference], and, eventually, you'll see a mess of objects all quite scattered
around but in interesting patterns unlike the first world where everything is
random. The weird feature of this world is that some blocks change their looks each
time you change your position! If you find a block, while playing around in this
area that changes very rapidly, this is that block. Enter debug if you aren't in
debug already, and tap the directional pad in any direction, and the block will
change to something else. Tap it again, and the block will change once again.
Repeat to see all objects in this particular bonus stage.
D. Glowing Spheres Stage [Bonus stage number 1 on the level select screen]
Despite the fact that I know this stage the most, there really isn't much of a treat
with debug mode. There are three things, to consider, however, they are not as good
as any other feature listed above.
1. Upon entering this stage, enter debug, scroll down to where the exit portal is,
exit debug, fall into this exit portal, enter debug quickly, go up, and exit
quickly, entering again as soon as you exit debug, and the exit portal will never
start to rise. Proceed normally otherwise without worries of the exit portal
getting you. If Tails falls into it when Sonic and Tails are together, the exit
portal won't be affected.
2. When you reach the top, either via the normal procedure or by debug, place one
of those gray platforms and land on it. Change your item to the small glowing
spheres and place a bunch of them. Exit debug, and jump up and down over these like
crazy to almost instantly max the rings out and/or get tons of 1ups. If you do this
enough, you'll see some strange notations in the lives menu, even have 0 lives left
without a gameover [however, you cannot pause the game when you have 0 left.] With
debug, you are immune to the exit portal. If it comes up too close, just enter
debug, and wait for it to pass by.
3. The third thing deals with Tails when you have Sonic and Tails together. Ever
wonder why I mentioned "die" when describing this stage earlier above? Here's why
it happens:
1. If you use feature 1 listed just above to stop the exit portal, you'll
understand this better and have a greater chance for success. Also, you could wait
about a minute or so to let it pass by you in debug giving you a 100% chance of this.
2. Enter debug and go to the very top of the stage.
3. Place that gray platform at a point just above the top of the highest large
glowing sphere and a little ways to the left of it. Go up on top of it via debug
and exit debug.
4. Wait for Tails to come flying down.
5. Jump up when Tails lands swinging back and forth repeatedly on the control pad
to lure Tails further to the left. Eventually, Tails will miss the platform and
fall a long ways. After about 4 seconds or so, gaining tons of speed [about 48
pixels per frame [estimated by some formulas I have of this game] or about 3/4 the
height of the large glowing spheres moved in 1/60 of a second], Tails will either
fall through the exit portal as explained in the glitch in Section 3 and die because
of the bottomless pit, or, by about a 1 in 2 chance, end up in the exit portal [the
chances are actually either all the time or never, determined by the placement of
your object and how high you jump].
---------------------------
| Section 6: Other notes |
---------------------------
A. Determining which bonus stage you'll get
This time, the manual is mostly correct with one small error, the bonus stage is
determined by the number of rings you have when you activate a star post. The only
exception to this is when you have Hyper Sonic or Hyper Knuckles [and a wall].
However, because the manual has nothing to do with the Hyper forms, only possible in
Sonic 3 and Knuckles taking no special note on it, I'd say that the manual is fully
correct instead. The colored stars above tell you what bonus stage you get. White
leads you to the gumball machine, yellow leads you to the slot machine stage and red
leads you to the glowing spheres stage.
If the manual does say that it is determined by how many rings you have when a star
post is activated, just how many is needed for each? The pattern is simple enough
as it is adding 45 each step as your ring count increases. However, I almost never
play Sonic and Knuckles as one game, so these values only refer to Sonic 3 &
Knuckles.
Slot Machine stage:
To activate the slot machine stage via starposts, you need any of these combos of
rings when you touch the star post:
20 to 34, 65 to 79, 110 to 124, 155 to 169, 200 to 214, 245 to 259, 290 to 304, 335
to 349, 380 to 384, 425 to 439, 470 to 484, 515 to 529, 560 to 574, 605 to 619, 650
to 664, 695 to 709, 740 to 754, 785 to 799, 830 to 844, 875 to 889, 920 to 934, or
from 965 to 979. You cannot have more than 999 rings [unless you place a lot of
those S icons, however, I'm not going to extend this to 65,535 anyway as it's
pointless].
Glowing Spheres stage:
The glowing spheres stage is activated when you touch a starpost having these ranges
of rings:
35 to 49, 80 to 94, 125 to 139, 170 to 184, 215 to 229, 260 to 274, 305 to 319, 350
to 364, 395 to 409, 440 to 454, 485 to 499, 530 to 544, 575 to 589, 620 to 634, 665
to 679, 710 to 724, 755 to 769, 800 to 814, 845 to 859, 890 to 904, 935 to 949, or
from 980 to 994.
The Gumball Machine stage:
This stage is accessible from any ring ranges not in the list above when touching a
star post. The remaining ones are:
50 to 64, 95 to 109, 140 to 154, 185 to 199, 230 to 244, 275 to 289, 320 to 334, 365
to 380, 410 to 424, 455 to 469, 500 to 514, 545 to 559, 590 to 604, 635 to 649, 680
to 694, 725 to 739, 770 to 784, 815 to 829, 860 to 874, 905 to 919, 950 to 964 or
from 995 to 999
If you love getting rings to keep the super or hyper form active, this is the way to
go to determine which you'll get. You can enhance your chances if you have the
hyper forms. With Hyper Sonic, it's easy, but with Hyper Knuckles, it requires a
wall and a fair distance to it, but close enough so that the stars remain on
screen. Let's say that you activate a star post with 54 rings and want the Glowing
Spheres stage and have Hyper Sonic. All you need to do is wait until the ring count
gets less than 50, like 49, jump up away from the stars then use the jump button
again to enter the Glowing Spheres stage. If you Have Hyper Knuckles under these
same conditions, you need a wall. Like with Hyper Sonic, wait until the ring count
goes below 50, which turns into a new category as from the list above. Once the
ring count drops below 50, jump up and glide into the wall to cause a big slam. I
believe that this is one of the 25 or so glitches in the game [almost all require
debug in order to encounter]. With the normal form, or the super form, you'll have
to wait until the ring count gets into the range of you wanted bonus stage before
activating the starpost, then jump up into the stars above. The method with the
normal form and super forms also is workable with the Hyper forms and is the
preferred method. Use the special method if you accidentally activate one a little
early.
B. FAQ update log
This FAQ was created on my system on Jan 15, 2004 at 10:40 AM. There have been no
updates made since.
C. Copyright information
You may use this bonus stage FAQ, any part or all of it at your own will, provided
you meet these two conditions: You give credit to me, and, if you have a website
highly related to video games, and want to use part or all of this it on that
website, post a link to my site at
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/ulillillia/index.html on that page [unless your
hosting service does not allow it, if so, you may not post any part of this, though
you may still E-mail it provided you give me credit for it].